Beyond the Goal

Amin-ul Islam Mohammad

Description

Baichung Bhutia-dubbed the Sikkimese Sniper for his amazing shot accuracy-has been winning young and old hearts alike with his rare skill and boyish charm since 1993. He serves as a benchmark not only for Indian football, but also for Asian football, as he has been one of the best players for over a decade. In fact, even today, he remains the only iconic face of Indian football to the outside world. Baichung's career has not been without controversy and Beyond the Goal delves into the footballers relationships with his coaches, the clubs he played with, and his much debated retirement. Md Amin takes us through the good, the bad, and the ugly of football in India by doggedly retracing Baichung's own highs and lows.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.
• Date de parution: 11 août 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184006438
• Langue: English

Extrait

Mohammad Amin-ul Islam

BEYOND THE GOAL
The Biography of Baichung Bhutia
RANDOM HOUSE INDIA
Contents
Dedication
Foreword
Sunil Chhetri on Baichung
Preface
1: Family and Childhood
2: Karma s Wunderkid
3: Route to East Bengal
4: A Traitor?
5: Import to the Motherland of Football
6: Dancing Shoes
7: An Idealist Leader
8: End of an Era
9: The Future Beckons
Fast Facts
A Note on the Author
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Follow Random House
Copyright
To the memory of my father, who never missed a football match at the Maidan
Foreword
W hen I was not yet a star, Baichung was already a big name in Indian sports. We both belong to the North-east and that’s how we connect well. I think he is the first modern superstar from the North-east who made it big at the international level much before Dingko Singh’s gold-medal feat at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, which inspired me to take up boxing.
Baichung’s hard work and struggle say a lot about his success in modern sports.
I don’t remember which year it was, but I watched Baichung for the first time when he was playing in a Santosh Trophy match. I don’t remember the venue. Thereafter, I watched most of the national team matches on TV, particularly the two Nehru Cup finals in Delhi in 2007 and 2009.
I appreciate Baichung’s selfless approach to life. He has done a lot to promote football in the country and in Sikkim. I strongly believe that for iconic sportspersons, contributing to society at large should be one of their responsibilities. He has done that of his own accord, without being told about his role when he retired from the sport.
Both of us come from nondescript villages and had some common goals to develop our respective sports in India. I haven’t been to Tinkitam, but I think it can be compared with Manipur’s Kangathei village, from where I hail.
I understand how hard it was to make his way up, given the lack of facilities that he must have faced as a youngster. His vision to develop the sport through his academy and club remind me of my own academy which I had launched in 2007 to cater to the needs of Manipur’s underprivileged young girls and boys.
Baichung didn’t want to see his state get left behind in football and made the dreams of so many young Sikkimese players come true.
Like all of us from the North-east, Baichung is an unassuming person who never threw his weight around. Success didn’t change him. He is the same person that he was even a decade ago, modest and grounded. That’s what makes him so likeable.
He is one of India’s best sportspersons and remains a model for the youth of the country.
Mary Kom
Sunil Chhetri on Baichung
E ver since I have understood football, Baichung bhai has been my idol. Besides being a great player, I think he is a gem of a person. For me, he has always been like an elder brother who guided me through thick and thin in my career. In 2002, when I went to Calcutta as a 19-year-old to play for Mohun Bagan, I was thrilled that I would play alongside him.
Bhai was the biggest influence on my generation of players. A great motivator, he never imposed his stardom on the junior players.
His amazing confidence was another thing that I really admired. Even when the chips were down, he wouldn t throw in the towel. As a leader, he was our guiding force and encouraged us to fight back. As a player, he was dedicated and honest, and never shied away from taking responsibilities. I think it came naturally to him.
Bhai gave cent per cent in whatever he did, be it in scoring goals or winning Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. He is a true winner who dedicated everything to the beautiful game. Even after his retirement, he didn t want to relax, but wanted to promote the game at the grass-roots level. United Sikkim Club was his novel idea as he sincerely felt that young players from his state should not be left out in the race.
Last year in November, I was delighted when I surpassed him as India s top scorer with forty-three goals. It was a great feeling. He came down from the stands and congratulated me. He s somebody whom I ve always respected and emulated on the playing field.
I sincerely thank him for everything, from the moment I was chosen for the national team till now.
He is a legend and an icon who has inspired so many youngsters like me. It was an honour playing in a national team which had Baichung Bhutia in it.
I m sure that when I grow old, I ll proudly tell everyone that I had once played alongside him.
Preface
O n a hot and sunny June afternoon when my father was preparing to leave for the Maidan, I made up my mind that I wanted to be taken along.
He was in a fix, initially, but relented. We drove down in his Standard car from our central Calcutta home to the Maidan-the hotbed of India s football capital.
In 1977 I was only six, but I clutched my father s hand and stood on the rickety wooden stands of the Mohammedan Sporting gallery. The fans were in a state of delirious joy and held their umbrellas high in the air. I only heard, Habib, Habib ; Habib was one of India s top stars in that era.
My dad whispered, Habib has scored a goal .
At that age when my life revolved around Tintin, Mandrake, Lothar and Phantom, the technicalities of football seemed like geometrical theorems.
All I retain about that goal is a sense of joy and contentment.
In the late 1970s and 80s, some of the best moments of middle-class families in Calcutta were spent watching Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Mohammedan Sporting on black and white TV sets on weekends.
If there was a power cut, the running commentary in Ajay Bose s mellifluous voice on the ubiquitous Murphy radio provided succour. His diction and inimitable style made football commentary a highly enjoyable experience. Besides, the multiple Bengali football magazines, some copies of which I still possess, added to the entertainment.
When I became a freelance journalist in 1993, the same year that Baichung debuted in Calcutta, I visited various clubs which brought me closer to the game. But sadly, football witnessed a downslide in popularity. Even my late dad s interest had dwindled after the retirement of some of the biggest stars from the 1970s and 80s who had added glamour to the game. Another reason for his declining interest was the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups which were beamed live in India. After watching high quality matches in the 1982 and 1984 Nehru Cups, which had former World Cuppers, he completely lost interest in the local league. The game crawled at a snail s pace.
My father never liked the idea of travelling to Salt Lake Stadium as he felt it lacked the Maidan s charisma. But when Baichung came to Calcutta and there was a buzz, his interest was revived. How s he as a player ? Is he really good like Chuni or Habib? he asked.
I nodded in affirmation and told him that Baichung also scored goals with elegant back-volleys like Shyam Thapa.
My dad watched the 1997 Federation Cup semifinal against Mohun Bagan on TV. Baichung s amazing speed and hat-trick reminded him of Habib s younger brother Mohammad Akbar and Subhash Bhowmick, he said.
In the last few years of his life, he repented that he couldn t watch Baichung at the Maidan.
Today, I feel a void within me when I think that he is not around to read Baichung s biography and have a chance to meet him.
I love him for introducing me to this great game.
Mohammad Amin-ul Islam
June 2014
1
Family and Childhood
Who is Ugen Sangey?
F ew Indian football fans would recognize this name. Even a Google search might leave you disappointed. Ugen Sangey is one of the best-kept secrets of the football world.
I was astonished to learn that Ugen Sangey is Baichung Bhutia s real name. I didn t know it for many years despite my interactions with him. Of course, knowing his introverted nature, it isn t surprising that Baichung didn t open up about this. There are sides to him so private that not even those in the village in which he grew up know about them.
I learned this during a chance conversation with Kunzang Doma Bhutia, Baichung s elder sister.
Is Ugen his actual name? I asked her, amazed.
Yes, it is, she replied. Baichung is his pet name and we often used to call him Ugen, his official name.
When little Baichung joined school and was asked his name, he rolled out his pet name which means the little one -and it stuck.
To understand Baichung s roots better, I decided to travel to his home state, Sikkim, in December 2001 when he was there recovering from a knee injury after a stint in England. It was my maiden visit to Sikkim and his village, Tinkitam, was completely unknown to me. Earlier that month, when Baichung was in Delhi, he had invited me to visit Tinkitam. A travel plan had been finalized-I would visit his village after Christmas, where he would be spending a week with his parents. However, I had no mobile or any phone number on which I could contact him. He had only given me a rough sketch of the route, but, as I realized later, it wasn t that easy to reach a remote village in south Sikkim.
I boarded the Rajdhani Express to Calcutta and, the following evening, I took the Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah station to New Jalpaiguri with a waitlisted ticket. I tried telling the TT that I was a journalist from Delhi; unfortunately, it didn t carry much import. But once the train chugged out of the platform, he let me stay on board.
As night approached, I took out a blanket and rolled it out near the toilet. As I lay there, I tried to distract myself from the stench by thinking about Baichung and Tinkitam and what awaited me there. The next morning, I walked down to the Tenzing Norgay bus stand near the New Jalpaiguri station. I still didn t know where Tinkitam was and how I would get there. I found out from a bystander that I first needed to go to Gangtok and then get a connecting cab to my destination, but he didn t mention the route!
After reaching Gangtok, I faced anoth